1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tape printing apparatus for printing desired characters and symbols onto a tape to thereby produce a tape label.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,152 has proposed a tape printing apparatus for printing characters and symbols on a tape (for example, with a width of 10 mm or 24 mm). As shown in FIG. 1, the tape printing apparatus of this document has a keyboard portion 100, a control portion (not shown), a liquid crystal display portion 101, and a printing mechanism portion 102 integrated with one another. This tape printing apparatus is suitable for use in printing file names on a tape which may be used as a label to be adhesively attached to the back of a file.
This conventional tape printing apparatus is that of an integral type, in which the keyboard portion, the control portion, the liquid crystal display portion, and the printing mechanism portion are integrated with one another. The key board portion is for inputting code data indicative of characters and symbols desired to be printed on a tape. The crystal display portion is for displaying the desired characters and symbols inputted through the operation of the key board portion. The control portion is or controlling the printing mechanism portion, according to the code data, to print the desired characters and symbols onto the tape. The printing mechanism portion is provided with a thermal head. The printing mechanism portion is detachably loaded with a tape cassette containing the tape that is suitable for printing the desired characters and symbols. The printing mechanism portion is controlled by the control portion to drive the thermal head so as to print the desired characters and symbols onto the tape contained in the tape cassette.